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KC Royals: What Jeremy Guthrie Brings To Rotation

By Alec Tilson

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KC Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie isn’t a great pitcher. He’s never won 20 games. He’s never been an All-Star. The average baseball fan may not remember him much in 15 years.

That’s not why he’s in the Kansas City Royals’ starting rotation. Despite many calling for Guthrie’s head in the starting rotation, he gives the Royals something that’s hard to find.

He knows what he is.

Guthrie knows he’s not Johnny Cueto. He knows full-well he doesn’t have the stuff Danny Duffy has. He understands Yordano Ventura‘s arm is more talented at the age of 24 than his will ever be. But…

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Guthrie is a competitor. A great one. He’s a gamer. He doesn’t just pitch, he plays the game. He’s strategic, a thinking man’s pitcher and he’s a gifted athlete. That’s what separates him.

He’s the oldest guy on the Royals 40-man roster. He’s older than Omar Infante, older than Chris Young. Hell, he’s 11 years older than Salvador Perez.

Now being old and being a good competitor and a good guy doesn’t throw any pitches. It won’t win any games and, if you’re not at least serviceable, it doesn’t mean anything. Once you’re done, you’re done. It doesn’t look like Guthrie is done though.

In 13 starts from May 9th to July 18th, Guthrie allowed three earned runs or fewer 11 times. He was 9-4 in those starts, and one of those outings was the infamous one-inning, 11-run game at Yankee Stadium.

There’s pitchers in the world with the stuff that Jeremy Guthrie has. Most, though, don’t know how to get 12 seasons, 270 games started and a $25 million contract out of it.

That’s what Guthrie does. He shows up and he’s the same guy every time. That might be a career 4.34 ERA guy, but you can trust him to be exactly that. You can win with that.

It’s hard to do that with Yordano Ventura, he’s just figuring out what he is and how to be comfortable with that. It’s hard to do that with Danny Duffy just yet. You probably can’t do that with the majority of Major League starters. Many guys, especially younger pitchers, get caught trying to be something they aren’t.

Guthrie doesn’t do that.

He’s cool with being a career 4.86 K/9 and a 2.37 BB/9 pitcher. He’s cool with being a lifetime 91-107 pitcher. You win some, you lose some.

Guthrie has thrown right around 92 and 93 MPH throughout his career, according to FanGraphs.com, and he’ll drop all the way down to about 60 MPH on other pitches. He changes speed and locates and all that other stuff control pitchers do. Throws a bunch of different things at hitters.

I’m not knocking Guthrie’s stuff, it’s just not spectacular. If it was spectacular, he’d look something closer to Zack Greinke.

We can propose Chris Young in the rotation and propose any number of other ways to get Guthrie out of here, but it’s not as simple as plugging in a seemingly more talented arm. Manager Ned Yost can trust Guthrie to be what he is.

There’s pitchers in the world with the stuff that Jeremy Guthrie has. Most, though, don’t know how to get 12 seasons, 270 games started and a $25 million contract out of it.

The playoffs are a different story. The rotation could shorten up, and Guthrie might not be the Royals’ best option in a five or seven-game series. But for the last 50 games or so, Guthrie is getting the ball every fifth day, and he should be.

Next: Royals Should Not Trade For James Shields

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